And he has tipped the former Liverpool and Chelsea boss to replace Gary Neville at Valencia if he does depart St James' Park.

Benitez was hired to replace Steve McClaren last week but has a clause in his contract allowing him to leave if he cannot keep Newcastle up.

Keys wrote: "Take Rafa. Yes, I did say recently that he would go back to Valencia. That was before the Newcastle job came up. But he still might. If the Toon go down he'll be off - probably to Valencia!"

The Magpies may risk losing the Spaniard if they get relegated, of course, and, looking at the situation strategically, there is no shame in Rafa potentially using the Newcastle job as an audition for a top-flight club next season.

If Benitez does keep Newcastle up, there is plenty of potential ahead of next campaign.

Tim Poole

Tim Poole is a sports journalist for HITC with a love of football, tennis and snooker in particular.His career to date has seen him speak to former Manchester United boss David Moyes, interview snooker world champion Mark Selby and be snubbed by Premier League managers and players in more than one language!He is a massive Roger Federer fan and lives by the motto that 'sport is life.' When he's not writing about it, he's playing it, be it football, tennis, basketball, badminton, table tennis, darts, snooker, golf or even water polo. He is better at some than others...